Bittersweet changes

Post navigation

Life will throw at you ONLY what you can handle. This is the mantra I have to recite to myself on an almost daily basis. With change comes growth both good, and sometimes bad, but nonetheless is brings you closer to figuring out who you are and what you can handle. About 2 months ago, I was living a a seemingly perfect scenario for a Navy wife, in which my husband was home for the foreseeable future, I was starting my new venture to becoming a nurse and I was establishing my “name” in the area. That all changed on a Friday night at the end of April. I had come home from an event of some kind and was planning to prepare for a friends arrival that weekend. My husband sat my down on the bed with the most serious expression on his face that I had ever seen him with. The news was that he had been “volunteered” to choose one of two temporary duty stations, neither of which included where he currently was. Both were in hazards way and both were going to be away from me: for a whole year.

My world came crashing down once more – for a brief moment I was selfish in thinking that I would have him home to help build up our new life together and even try to start a family. My concerns became even more about what I would do when he was gone, with no job and only one class during the year… I was upset that no one else could go in his place and that it HAD to happen to me. We talked and I cried and laid all my concerns and feelings out there, without a thought of how it would effect him moving forward to preparing for the departure. I wanted to be selfish for once and he was gracious to allow me that.

The following weeks were a whirlwind in which we traveled home to see our families, both in different states and in one trip. We dealt with a flooding problem in our brand new house and spent the final few hours together that we could.

When we arrived back from our trips home and finally got the house back in order, I got a call that would again change my outlook on the next year. I had not been looking for a job for a few months; I had, as many American’s at this time, became discouraged when I was sending out more than 20 resumes a week and not hearing back from any of them. I was content in going back to school to work on my second Bachelors to occupy my time and change my career to something more portable for our lifestyle. The call I received at the beginning of May was from a staffing firm I worked thorough when we first got into town. They had a position that I would be a good candidate for – so I threw my hat in the ring. I had no intent of really fighting for the job, until I received the job description: the job I have been looking for for 4 years….in my hands, and I had an interview that week.

This was the moment I started truly believing in a higher power: God, Allah, fate whomever…is out there watching out for all of us. Needless to say, I succeeded in convincing the staff to hire me on and have been impressing them since I started. It was a welcomed change in the light of a bittersweet event that would separate my husband and I for almost a year. He flew out of town on Independence Day, which we all seem to think was a little inappropriate for the military (read: downright rude), but I did get to spend a beautiful evening and wonderful final day with him before doing so. This is something I would never take for granted – ever.